program

Michał Szlaga, Stocznia/Shipyard, 2010, pigment print on Moab Entrada Rag paper

Trieste Contemporanea, the Polish Institute in Rome and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute present the exhibition STOCZNIA/SHIP YARD: Documents of Loss. In this solo exhibition the artist Michał Szlaga captures the desolation and state of abandonment of the buildings, pavilions and infrastructure of what was once an important Polish industrial site. The exhibition brings together 32 photographs taken by the Polish photographer between 2004 and 2013, documenting the dismantling of the Gdansk shipyards. The Stocznia/Shipyard photo collection is an attempt to preserve the image of the shipyard, which was built in the 19th century and continues to represent one of Europe’s largest industrial legacies.

The shipyard, once a huge workplace for more than 15,000 workers, saw the birth of the Solidarność trade union in 1980, which later gave rise to the democratic movement in Poland and contributed to the fall of the Soviet bloc. In the 2000s the site served as  the headquarters of Kolonia Artystów (artists’ colony) and meeting place for artists, including Szlaga himself, who moved into one of its buildings. Szlaga’s work was a part of the subsequent protest against the neoliberal urban planning policy that gave rise to a land speculation project that entailed the demolition of most of the present buildings adjacent to the Gdansk slipway and the conversion of some of them into residential complexes.

The exhibition includes a video projection From the Naval Shipyard cycle (2010-2012, 10’28”), a slideshow with photographs from 1999-2013, and a series of slides of the sites before and after the demolition of the buildings.